Hurricane Isaias - Chesapeake Bay

The tropical storm raced up Chesapeake bay or on the edge of it. I guess it started around 5am and was done by about 1pm. Modest amount of uprooted trees, broken limbs on the road for a storm that moved through so quickly. I would guess we got close to a 3' tidal surge in Crisfield, MD.

Some pics from today:

The top of the floating dock isn't supposed to be higher than the land.


Still have another 4' on the pilings before life gets interesting. The bow line on the pilings is normally close to the cap rail on my boat.


The fixed piers are under water. The marina is experimenting with a new concept, floating power pedestals. Power was turned off to the docks yesterday at 4pm.


A spiderweb of dock lines (14) kept Slow Hand safe. Pays to prepare for the worst.

Ted

Ted

I made a quick trip from Ocracoke to home port Baltimore to stay ahead of storm. Chesapeake got rough Sunday afternoon so we took refuge in Crisfield for the night. Finished trip Monday morning.

Docked stern in on slip G13 and tied boat up. Looked up dock and low and behold was your boat. Just wanted to tell you it looks even nicer in person than in pictures.

Glad your marina made it through storm. We have all floating docks and other than the wind and rain this morning were fine.

John

johnrupp said:

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Ted

I made a quick trip from Ocracoke to home port Baltimore to stay ahead of storm. Chesapeake got rough Sunday afternoon so we took refuge in Crisfield for the night. Finished trip Monday morning.

Docked stern in on slip G13 and tied boat up. Looked up dock and low and behold was your boat. Just wanted to tell you it looks even nicer in person than in pictures.

Glad your marina made it through storm. We have all floating docks and other than the wind and rain this morning were fine.

John

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Thanks for the kind words John! Sorry I missed you. Glad the storm was a non event for you.

Ted

We rode it out in Mill Creek in Solomon's Island, so we were just northwest of you guys, across the bay. Tornado watches and lots of rain and plenty windy, but we feel fortunate it did not get too bad. Now we will see what we can learn about the expected debris field, and head south slowly and carefully over the next few days.

South of Heaven said:

https://imgur.com/0Z8ptPP

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Maybe I'm a doof for not seeing it, but where was that taken? Up in your area or on the Chesapeake or...?

(Those boats tied to the docks.... yikes.)

Frosty said:

Maybe I'm a doof for not seeing it, but where was that taken? Up in your area or on the Chesapeake or...?

(Those boats tied to the docks.... yikes.)

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Not sure either! Its from Isaias though.

O C Diver said:

The tropical storm raced up Chesapeake bay or on the edge of it. I guess it started around 5am and was done by about 1pm. Modest amount of uprooted trees, broken limbs on the road for a storm that moved through so quickly. I would guess we got close to a 3' tidal surge in Crisfield, MD.

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Yeah... about 50' worth of a 120' maple tree landed on our (house) roof just 9 am on Tuesday.. That was just a few minutes after a local tornado watch was issued, but we didn't notice any high/cyclonic winds (no freight train sound) at the time.

Haven't been able to completely assess roof/gutter/chimney damage, but the tree people are bringing in a 90-ton crane on Saturday...

-Chris

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Hope nobody was hurt. Lots of people around here had written it off, being a tropical storm. Every once in a while, mother nature has to remind us who really has the power.

Ted

ranger42c said:

Yeah... about 50' worth of a 120' maple tree landed on our (house) roof just 9 am on Tuesday.. That was just a few minutes after a local tornado watch was issued, but we didn't notice any high/cyclonic winds (no freight train sound) at the time.

Haven't been able to completely assess roof/gutter/chimney damage, but the tree people are bringing in a 90-ton crane on Saturday...

-Chris

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Hopefully not too much damage hiding under that chunk of tree!

Having ridden this one out with the eye passing close to us, and recently having TS Bertha formed right on top of us when anchored in Georgetown, two things come to mind. First, it is so random where damage happens. Even the saltiest and smartest boaters benefit from a little luck. Major damage can be just a few hundred yards away, while you go unscathed. Secondly, the importance of a well protected cove cannot be underestimated. We rode this one (Isaias) out in Mill Creek at Solomon's Island and the hills around us offered unbelievable protection. We could hear the winds and see the trees bending over, but we barely rocked.

When TS Bertha formed pretty much right on top of us in Georgetown, our anchorage was more exposed. Although Bertha was not as strong of a storm, we had a much rougher ride with it than this one.

A well protected cove and a little luck seem to be keys. You can often control the first of those two, the 2nd not so much.

Were you anchored in Mill Creek? How far the creek were you able to get?

Woodland Hills said:

Were you anchored in Mill Creek? How far the creek were you able to get?

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We have anchored in Mill Creek twice over the past few weeks. I like the area around Green 7 there. This time we were at a dock about 1/4 mile farther up the creek than Red 8.

We were anchored, but then a day or 2 before the storm we had the opportunity to use someone's dock (very generous boater/homeowner who have been so kind to us). So we tied to their dock. It was nice to be plugged in when it was so hot, so we enjoyed that. My plan was to untie and move about 100 yards away from the dock and anchor the morning the storm was supposed to get here. The winds picked up before daylight, though, and I didn't like the idea of moving with the winds already up. So we stayed put.

I actually think that was the wrong decision. We should have backed out and anchored. However, the protection in this cove is so good that it worked out beautifully for us and being tied to the dock caused no problems at all. I've become a big fan of Mill Creek and protection it offers.

Here in CT , there were over 880,000 power outages between the 2 electric companies.


We are getting the royal shaft , my house electric bill is about $35.00 a month , the cost of delivery over $80.00 per month.

FF said:

Here in CT , there were over 880,000 power outages between the 2 electric companies.


We are getting the royal shaft , my house electric bill is about $35.00 a month , the cost of delivery over $80.00 per month.

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So, $115/month for power? A bargain in my opinion. I think, sir, that maintenance of the infrastructure (cost of delivery) is the major cost for power companies.

O C Diver said:

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Hope nobody was hurt. Lots of people around here had written it off, being a tropical storm. Every once in a while, mother nature has to remind us who really has the power.

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rslifkin said:

Hopefully not too much damage hiding under that chunk of tree!

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Thanks, no injuries, can't assess the rest of the damage yet... no visible leaks yet, though, so we're taking that as a hopeful sign.

-Chris

FF said:

Here in CT , there were over 880,000 power outages between the 2 electric companies.


We are getting the royal shaft , my house electric bill is about $35.00 a month , the cost of delivery over $80.00 per month.

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Driving on I-81 through Virginia this week ran into a couple crews from Alabama Power at a rest area. They said they were heading for Connecticut.

Chris, you know that we are berthed at Hartge's in Galesville. The irony of location is amazing. Top wind speed here in the marina was 31mph. The storm was wholly uneventful here probably no more than five miles from you as the crow flies.

ranger42c said:

Thanks, no injuries, can't assess the rest of the damage yet... no visible leaks yet, though, so we're taking that as a hopeful sign.

-Chris

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Here's what is left of Southport Marina (NC) where my boat is it's the one circled, can't get on it and they have not pulled it out the mess to be towed to a boatyard for inspection.

catalinajack said:

Chris, you know that we are berthed at Hartge's in Galesville. The irony of location is amazing. Top wind speed here in the marina was 31mph. The storm was wholly uneventful here probably no more than five miles from you as the crow flies.

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Yeah... I had been checking wind speeds at Thomas Point Light, didn't see anything notice than 37 knots during that period.

Didn't even notice any particularly high gusts here at the house... when all of a sudden the big bang happened...

-Chris

Obx said:

Here's what is left of Southport Marina (NC) where my boat is it's the one circled, can't get on it and they have not pulled it out the mess to be towed to a boatyard for inspection.

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Is the boat floating or is it on marsh? Don't know if floating is better or on firm bottom.

Ted

The people at the marina told me the waves in Manhasset Bay (Long Island Sound) were 5 feet - worse than Sandy. Two boats broke loose in the mooring field, one of which dragged into the marina and landed in slip, damaging the two boats already in the slip. The other one's in the picture. An Azimut broke loose and wound up nosed into the beach. Lots of other damage as well.

Dave

FF said:

Here in CT , there were over 880,000 power outages between the 2 electric companies.


We are getting the royal shaft , my house electric bill is about $35.00 a month , the cost of delivery over $80.00 per month.

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CT is a mess after a not so severe storm. Still no electric for many a week later. Investigations in power companies are beginning. Home office and factory for my company, still no power, potentially costing millions in lost revenue.

I keep my boat on the West River in Galesville and was quite surprised at how little preparation people did. Although the original forecast was for gusts to 45kts, by Monday a.m. it was forecast to 65kts. Boat across from me had their hard dinghy on deck, full canvas and solar panels on their bimini. On my pier there were only about 6-8 boats (out of 40 or so) that looked like any prep had been done. Fortunately it was weaker than anticipated, but surprising none-the-less had it been stronger, how unprepared the bulk of boats were.

proudsailor said:

I keep my boat on the West River in Galesville and was quite surprised at how little preparation people did.

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You're not alone being puzzled about the lack of prep.

We're up on Back Creek in Annapolis and next to nobody did anything out of the ordinary for their boat. We moved ours off the T head and into an inner slip, as did the 3 other boats out on the tee. But while doing so, the Monday afternoon before the storm, there wasn't really anyone else bothering. I removed and stowed the canvas and window covers, and doubled-up the lines.

Upside was there was just a LOT of rain and no sustained/significant wind.

We were back to the boat on Wednesday to move it back to it's usual place.

wkearney99 said:

You're not alone being puzzled about the lack of prep.

We're up on Back Creek in Annapolis and next to nobody did anything out of the ordinary for their boat. We moved ours off the T head and into an inner slip, as did the 3 other boats out on the tee. But while doing so, the Monday afternoon before the storm, there wasn't really anyone else bothering. I removed and stowed the canvas and window covers, and doubled-up the lines.

Upside was there was just a LOT of rain and no sustained/significant wind.

We were back to the boat on Wednesday to move it back to it's usual place.

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In CT, there was little rain but plenty of wind. Didn't look like a lot of prep here either. Many sailboats did not remove sails or canvas. At least a couple I saw had jibs unfurl and shred in the wind. 1 week later many homes still without power. Seems like lack of prep by utilities as well.

Well, our "good" news is that they got the tree off of the house on Saturday... and the insurance inspection was on Sunday... so additional inspections (mansonry chimney) and roof and gutter repairs can proceed. And now lawn repair too, from the crane in the front yard.

Our viewpoint is that the roof did it's job: kept the tree off our heads. Nice!

-Chris

'Lo All,
A few months before Hurricane Micheal struck, we had a natural gas whole house generator installed. After Hurricane Michael, commercial electricity was off for about 2 weeks (varied by location) commercial water was restored a little before that. Our bill for gas that month was about $700. We supplied water from our deep well and electricity for refrigerators and freezers to our two neighbors - plus had company (repair crews). We have used it for short periods when something blew out a transformer and once when lightning hit a high voltage line. Moral of the story: The whole house generator was one of our best investments, even if (hopefully), we never have to use it again.

AZ, Mill Creek is a jewel ! We have a slip at Calvert Marina. 2nd to last pier going up the creek. Almost to the tugs. Very protected from wind and very little current when docking.
Plus a free airshow from the Pax. River Naval air station most every day.